Many police-related slang terms exist for police officers. These terms are rarely used by the police themselves.
Police services also have their own internal slang and jargon; some of it is relatively widespread geographically and some very localized.
M
- Mabando
- Term used to imply the presence of law enforcement officers in a particular area. Most commonly used by the Dominican and Puerto Rican communities of Philadelphia.
- Maatia kukura
- Literally meaning kakhi dog, is a derogatory term for police in Odisha.
- Maama
- Hindi, मामा. Literally meaning maternal uncle, commonly used in Hindi to describe a male police person, typically referring to traffic police.
- Mama/Mami
- Marathi, slang, मामा/मामी. Literally meaning "maternal uncle/maternal aunt", it is one of the most common forms of addressing any strange male/female elder. Used frequently in Pune and Mumbai for traffic police personnel.
- Madama
- Italian term used when a police man is spotted on the site to advise someone during some sort of illegal action.
- Madero
- Slang, sometimes derogatory or vulgar. Spanish slang referring to a member of Cuerpo Nacional de Policia.[42] The term was coined after police uniforms were changed to brown in the early 1980s.
- Manayek
- Derogatory. Police officer or military police in Israel.
- Man, The
- Derogatory. Police officer or other government agent who has control, either by force or circumstance. Widely used in the United States, especially among African Americans and prisoners. Popular during the 1960s and 1970s by anti-establishment groups.[citation needed]
- Mata/Mata-Mata
- Common slang in both Singapore and Malaysia, "mata" means "eye" in Malay and connotes surveillance, thus becoming a metonym for the police.
- Meat Wagon
- Common UK term for a police van, typically a Transit van, used for transporting people from a crime scene to the police station. Not commonly used for police cars or riot vans.
- "John got arrested for being drunk and disorderly, the police cuffed him and threw him in the back of the Meat Wagon."
- Not applicable in the United States, where the term is used to describe a coroner's van, nor in Germany, where a Mietwagen is a hired car.
Meat wagon is the name given to ambulances in the UK
- Memur Bey
- Common slang used in Turkey. Means "Mr. Officer".
- Ment
- Russian slang, Мент (pl. Менты). Only slightly disparaging, in general use (e.g. Ments is an alternative title for Streets of Broken Lights). The word dates back to the nineteenth century and is originally Hungarian, meaning "cloak" (because the Austro-Hungarian police uniform included a cloak).[43]
- Messingen
- Norwegian, literally "The Brass", referring to police badges traditionally being made of said material.[44]
- Městapo
- Czech term used for members of city police who are known for arrogant and harassing behaviour. Combination of the term městská policie and secret police of Nazi Germany Gestapo.[45]
- Měšťák
- Czech slang for a city police officer. Short form of městský policista.
- Millicents
- Term originated from the novel A Clockwork Orange.
- Militia
- Slang in Romania and various post-Soviet countries with roots from the secret police.
- Mr. Plod
- See Plod.
- MOD Plod
- The Ministry of Defence Police in the United Kingdom.[46]
- Moosor
- Russian, lit. "garbage" (but countable), offensive. Etymology uncertain, theories suggested include the acronym MUS for "Moscow Criminal Investigation [Office]" (Московский Уголовный Сыск) in Tzarist Russia and Hebrew for "informer." Also, in Belarus, the acronym MUS stands for Ministry for Home Affairs (Belarusian: Міністэрства ўнутраных спраў, МУС), and is embroidered on policeman uniform.[41]
- Mountie(s)
- Canada, colloquial, Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Also used in Australia to refer to the mounted police sections of the various state police forces.
- Murija
- Serbo-Croatian, common colloquial term for "police"; from the Italian word muro, meaning "wall".
- Musker
- Romany word to describe a police officer.